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I liked it at that time because I could use some of the ideas in a fuseki I could understand, that would be somewhat flexible and keep things simple. After that I've got more interested in studying fuseki.
It's not a dictionary, and is not worth "memorizing". It is interesting to see how each stone develops the game in a given direction.
When I read it I was about IGS 9k*
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Unlike many of the PC books on the market, Kato doesn't spend any time on projects. There are many, many techniques - Ballinese Filligree, the Clichy Rose Cane, several different types of faux materials, just as examples - but she doesn't tell you how to apply them or use them. This is fabulous for those who can use the techniques as springboards, and makes the book far more useful than any project-based book could be.
However, the technique-based approach is a little intimidating for the novice clayer; I bought this book a month after I cracked open my first packet of Sculpey III, and there wasn't much in The Art of Polymer Clay that was useful to me. Four months later, I started to get into it, and now this is one of my favorite PC books.
The basic information is extensive, but some of it, like the types of clay section, is out-dated. However, as I've said, this isn't the most helpful book for the beginning clayer - The Polymer Clay Techniques Book is probably that - so the front material is a bit beside the point. (However, everyone should read the whole book, as there is fabulous information in all the chapters.)
If I had to (horrors!) reduce my collection of PC books to just five, The Art of Polymer Clay would be one of them. It is a great book for any clayer at any level - one of the classics of the PC library.
The section on making canes and reducing them is very helpful if you like to make millefiori. All in all, this is a very good book to have if you love polymer clay crafts.
The word 'Sutra,' literally means 'thread' or 'string.' The scriptures containing the teachings of the Buddha. Most of the major Sutras were originally written in Pali or Sanscrit, although some were written in Tibetan or Chinese. They are among the world's oldest literature.
These Sutras are called The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings; The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law; and The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. Ananda, a cousin of Sakyamuni and one of the Buddha's ten great disciples, famous for his excellent memory, is supposed to have memorized the Buddha's sermons, which were later recorded as Sutras.
The word bodhi, used in Bodhisattva, means 'wisdom,', or enlightenment, and pertains to buddhahood. Boddhisattva, then, refers to a living being in the final stages of achieving buddhahood, or becoming one who is enlightened.
These are among the most important of the Sutras. At their heart are three major concepts of Mahayana (the great path) Buddhism: First, all sentient beings may attain perfect enlightenment, the main goal of Buddhism; Second, the Buddha is eternal, having existed throughout the infinite past and appearing in many forms throughout the ages, guiding and teaching the law; and Third, the noblest form of Buddhist practice is the way of the Boddhisattva, who devotes himself to enlightenment.
The Threefold Sutra records three of the sermons preached by the Buddha best-known to us (Siddhartha, a prince of Gautama, of the Sakyamuni clan--sometimes referred to simply as Sakyamuni) to a host of boddhisattvas, consisting of the "Opening Sutra," the "Meditation on the Boddhisattva Universal Virtue Sutra," and finally the "Lotis Sutra."
For the serious student of Buddhism, this is a most desirable book.
Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity